Many of the martial arts require the athlete to extend one of his legs in a kicking action. One of the goals of the athlete is to kick as high as possible while maintaining his balance. To assist the athlete in the performance of these kicks, a number of devices have been developed to stretch the legs muscles for the athlete. Stretching the leg muscles of the athlete increases his flexibility and thereby allows the athlete to extend his body to its maximum potential during a kick maneuver.
A problem exists however in the current state of the art stretching devices. The prior art stretching devices are passive. In other words, the athlete sits on the floor or on the stretching device to stretch his legs. The sitting position for use of these devices in no way actively simulates the actual kicking stance and requires the athlete to take a rather passive role in the stretching process. Further, while the athlete may perform a variety of kicks, i.e. front kicks, side kicks and back kicks, the passive stretching devices of the prior art only allow the athlete to stretch his muscles in a single position.